Monday, April 11, 2011

Directions:1. Preheat oven at 350*. Mix butter and sugar until fluffy.2. Add vanilla and flour slowly.3. You can add mix-ins to your dough, including almond extract and nuts. You can also dip the cookies in melted chocolate. It is also a good dough to make them in to shapes if you have a cutter or a cookie press. I made into small balls, pressed finger in the middle, and filled dent with a little bit of homemade jam. Delicious!4. Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes until golden around the edges.

***These cookies are very soft, best eaten sooner rather than later because it not they will fall apart. I kind of like them old, but I know I'm kind of weird with those things, so I don't recommend it for everyone.***

1. In a sauce pan drizzle olive oil and cook the green onions, garlic, and spices in medium-high heat. Until fragrant, about 1 min.2. In a bowl max the black beans that have been drained and washed. Make a puree and add the spices and onions. Finally, add egg and mix well, following with the bread crumbs.3. Make mixture into patties. On a cooking pan drizzle olive oil and place patties, (drizzle a little olive oil on top of patties as well). Cook on broil for 8-10 minutes and then flip and cook for an additional 3 minutes.4. Drizzle with sour cream and lemon, salsa on top, or any other topping desired. Makes about 8 little patties.

***This recipe took me literally no time to make. It was very easy and most of the stuff I had at hand. I am sure that you can substitute the green onions for a bit of regular onion. I will freeze half the patties uncooked until they are ready to eat. Great for snack. Served here with fried canned corn.***

1. Preheat the oven to 350*.2. Mix all dry ingredients. Then add all wet ingredients. Mix well.3. Pour mixture in a 9x9 pan that has been greased and covered in flour. Bake for 35 minutes.

***This recipe is a classic in my house when we were growing up. Very easy to make and as I was noticing, it is also vegan. Next time I will try and pour the cake into cupcakes and see how it turns out. You can also top with icing. Enjoy!***

Level: Super EASY A nice old man on the side of the road was selling produce, so I stopped to take a look. I brought a huge mango, 3 plums (I ate one), 2 big green tomatoes, and 9 yellow squash = total $9.00 There is no way I would have gotten this good deal at the super market. Buy locally because not only are you going to get a good deal, but you reduce the emissions that it takes to transports these goods, you support local growers, and you eat fresher foods. (Believe me, those plums were exquisite!)

If you live in Gainesville: Farmer's Market at Downtown in front of library every Wednesday from 4-6pm.

Monday, January 18, 2010

This is my all-time favorite website for looking for recipes. You can type in a key word, or you can click on the link at the top that says "Ingredients" and look for recipes with the ingredients you have, and even ones that you don't want. But remember less, is more, the less keywords you put the more recipes your search will give you. Too specific might not give you any recipes at all.

This website has other features if you're a member too, you can save the recipes you like in your "Recipes box", add pictures of your own; or even review the recipe. But my favorite part of all is being able to read the reviews, this part is available to you whether you are a member or not. Reading the reviews gives you great ideas on what worked for people in the recipe and what didn't, or even tricks that they used to make the whole cooking process much easier. Whenever reading the reviews however make sure you read more than one. There's no accounting for taste, so balance out a 5 star review with a 1 star review, because chances are you will want to know what both of these people had to say, even if they might not share your same tastes.

-And finally this little fruit called "Kumquats" which I tried at the local market and then proceeded to buy. They are citrus and you are supposed to roll them in your hand to release the sweetness from the skin. Then you eat them skin and all. Here's a link to a close up: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Quinotos.jpg Oh yeah, and they are called Quinotos or naranja china in Spanish. Hmmm, go figure!

1. In a non-stick pan add oil and slices of tofu. Fry for about 2 minutes.

2. Add favorite Asian sauce and continue flipping tofu until lightly fried (and you are scared to burn it. I know these are not the best instructions, but believe me, it was more like trying an error for us. Our sauce came in a frozen package and Vane couldn't stop laughing at how the blob of sauce looked in the pan, and how I had to struggle with it to rub it on the tofu. LOL.)

For this meal we had left over Asian noodles which I made a ton of. :( Then we complimented the dish with alfalfa and tofu. The alfalfa might not have been the best combination, but the tofu was perfect and came out really good.